- Judge Henry Blacksell said he would pass 'least possible' sentence as he praised defendants' 'talent'

A judge described a graffiti gang who
caused £150,000 worth of damage in planned attacks on trains as
'talented artists', as he locked them up for a combined total of almost
four years.

Keiron
Cummings, 21, Alex Rowe, 22, and Billy McColl, 17, targeted train and
tube carriages across London in a three-year campaign described as
vandalism on 'an industrial scale'.

The
trio, who called themselves 'SMT', caused huge disruption to train
services by spraying their tag onto carriages under cover of darkness.
But Judge Henry Blacksell said the defendants had 'got talent', and that
he would pass the 'least possible' sentence.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

A co-founder of the Yellowist art movement is sent to prison for vandalising a painting by Russian-born artist Mark Rothko.

A 26-year-old man has been jailed for two years for defacing a Mark Rothko painting at London's Tate Modern gallery.

The Polish national arriving at court

Wlodzimierz Umaniec, also known as Vladimir Umanets, vandalised the
mural, worth between £5m and £9m, at the gallery on October 7 this year.

The Polish national, who co-founded the artistic movement Yellowism,
stepped over a barrier and daubed his name and the words "12 a potential
piece of Yellowism" before fleeing.

He admitted criminal damage in excess of £5,000 - but estimates suggest
the restoration of the painting, called Black On Maroon, will cost
around £200,000.

Inner London Crown Court Judge Roger Chapple described his actions as "entirely deliberate, planned and intentional".

The court heard Umaniec, who lives in Worthing, West Sussex, went to
the gallery intending to put his "signature" on a picture, but decided
to damage the Rothko painting only at the time he saw it on display.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Tagging in Christchurch costs the city thousands of dollars each year.

Police have nabbed a teenager they say is one of Christchurch's (New Zealand) most
prolific taggers, as part of a new hardline approach to the vandalism.

Senior Sergeant Glenn Nalder said an 18-year-old was arrested last
week and charged with wilful damage for allegedly causing "several
thousands of dollars" worth of graffiti damage in Woolston, Linwood and
Richmond - most notably on Stanmore Rd.

Nalder said the teenager was identified using a list provided by the
Christchurch City Council as one of the five "most prolific" taggers in
the city.

A new list is compiled each month as part of the council's new tagforce programme, he said.

Under an initiative set up a few months ago, council staff map
complaints to its graffiti hotline and collate photos of the tags.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

VISTA, California — Two teenagers have been arrested for allegedly causing $274,000 worth of graffiti damage in San Diego County.
City News Service says a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old, both from Vista, were arrested Thursday.

Authorities contend they tagged sidewalks, road signs,
bus benches and other public property hundreds of times in the past
seven months, leading to a small fortune in cleanup costs.
The 17-year-old was released to his mother but
authorities say the 15-year-old had a prior graffiti arrest and was
booked into Juvenile Hall.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) --
An unusual graffiti arrest in Burbank: A man working for a graffiti
removal company is accused of making his own graffiti, then cleaning it
up on the job.

Graffiti can be an eyesore for communities. No one wants a
permanent reminder of vandalism, so cities like Burbank contract out to
companies to paint over unwanted graffiti. That's what 53-year-old
Enrique Medrano's job was.

But Burbank Police say he was illegally working overtime by tagging his own graffiti, then charging to paint over it.

Police
say most of Medrano's tagging happened in public parks like Valley
Park. He would tag benches and restrooms and walls. In all, he's
accused of tagging more than 100 times.

Monday, December 3, 2012

This is an old news. But it's important to not forget. R.I.P. Ryan. August 30, 2011.

RYAN Smith died trying to spray the ultimate tag, a graffiti signature that would earn him credit among his mates.

Last night, those mates ignored police warnings, risking their own
lives to pay tribute and tag the same spot that Ryan was trying to reach
when he fell 15m to his death on rocks at South Australia's Christies
Creek.

Friends of the 17-year-old, whose body was discovered by a
walker at 8am yesterday, said last night that art was "his everything".

As darkness fell, those friends began to scale the Southern Expressway bridge, including precarious ledges they believe Ryan was trying to reach when he died some time on Sunday.
They said the highest, hardest to reach and most dangerous tags earn graffiti artists the greatest honour among their peers.

Graffiti artist Jorden said Ryan had been "a graffiti artist for life".
He also was a talented artist, attracting plenty of compliments for the work he displayed on his Facebook page.

Emergency service workers
recover the body of a young graffiti artist who fell off a Southern
Expressway bridge at Christies Creek. Pic: Chris ManganSource: AdelaideNow

Streetartandgraffiti.blogspot.com is not going to exhort the illegal writing, but shows only a preexisting phenomenon.The artists's material is sent to us in anonymous form. We hold the right to be contacted by the artists in presence of copyrighted photos or in case of recommendations.